And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

It is worth the time you will spend to read our extended reading for today, which is the complete account of the conquering of Jericho. God told Joshua that as He had been with Moses He would be with the new leader of the Jewish people as they would enter the “promise land”.

This portion of God's word is the record of God's beginning phase of the fulfillment of His promises to Joshua. This is an amazing victory over the awesome enemy standing at the entrance of the conquest of the “promise land” for the children of Israel.

Any true military strategist would have warned Joshua against the plan given to him by God. It would have been considered a suicide mission by any evaluation to simply have your religious leaders lead your people in a walk around this well fortified city.

It would have been ridiculous to walk around the city for one day but to do so for seven days and then to shout and think that the walls would come down would be out of the question for any logical leader.

However, God did not set Joshua in place as the leader of the children of Israel to lead the conquest of the land He had promised them because he was a logical thinker but because Joshua was obedient to his Lord.

The rest of the book of Joshua, which records the leadership of God's man for this mission, is a record of obedience and victory. It is the evidence that we must look at and consider, even as we in our own journey through life follow His direction for all the conquests that are promised for each of us as we do follow His direction.

It is interesting that as the children of Israel entered the promise land, it is "Jericho first" on the agenda for God's plan for taking the land. I used that phrase "Jericho first" because this is the phrase used in 1993 when the Oslo Accords were signed on the lawn at the White House in Washington.

The peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinian people would give to the Palestinians, "Jericho first." For this last 17 years we have seen how that peace treaty has been negated and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is deteriorating on a daily basis.

What got my attention is the fact that God gave “Jericho first” to the children of Israel and 3,500 years later the Jews gave “Jericho first” to their enemies. This scenario is in perfect alignment with Bible prophecy for these two peoples, the Jews and the Palestinians. (see my study on Esau and the Palestinians)

All the actors are in place and the curtain is about to go up on the final drama as described in Bible prophecy. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming and it could be today.

PRAYER THOT: Help me to realize the time of Your return is drawing closer as the current events unfold that are in line with the end time scenario found in Bible prophecy.